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Friday, April 02, 2010

GAY RIGHTS CANADA:

NO KISSING IN PUBLIC ?:

Here's a interesting item from XTRA, which bills itself as Canada's gay and lesbian news. Four days ago two women were ejected from the restaurant at the Huether Hotel in Waterloo Ontario for "kissing in public". Seems rather Iranian or Saudi of the owner. Here's the story.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGLesbians kicked out of Waterloo cafe for kissingTwo women were kicked out of Waterloo's Café 1842 at the Huether Hotel on March 29. Why? They exchanged a kiss.

A note posted on Facebook explains how university student Jenny Kirby and her girlfriend were asked to leave:

"Tonight, as we were getting ready to leave, my girlfriend and I exchanged a short kiss (no tongues I swear!) and we heard her [the café owner] exclaim "What's going on here!" and walk over to us and angrily say, "Stop that. That's enough. This is not the place for that."

"She was so loud that the whole café stopped and stared. One man was wearing a bathrobe (no pants) and actually said, "So it's ok for me to wear a bathrobe?" (Weird cafe-Molly ) Of course, she had no response and quickly disappeared, but she made it clear that we (dirty lesbians) were not welcome. In the past, I have been in there with ex boyfriends and we have engaged in much more physical activity than just an innocent kiss, so I know that this is not just about people in her café kissing. It's a "gay" problem..."Wilfrid Laurier University's TheCord.ca spoke to the owner:

"I'm walking up to the café, standing beside the dessert fridge, and I see two young girls necking. I was hoping it would stop, but it didn't," said Adlys.

"We have senior people, families, we're a family restaurant. I walked up to them, yes I was maybe a little bit loud, and I said "excuse me, can you please leave?

"Whether it had been two males, a male and a female or two females, I don't want to look at that. It makes me uncomfortable," said Adlys.

"I don't care who she was with, it's not appropriate in a family restaurant." (read more at TheCord.ca)

Gay kissing! In public! Think of the seniors! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

In protest, more than 900 people have joined a Facebook page since it was created on Tuesday: Taking Action Against Homophobia in Waterloo Region. There are rumblings of a boycott or kiss-in.

My two cents: go with a kiss-in, rather than a boycott. One of the first stories I covered for Xtrawas a similar incident in Ottawa in 2007, when two men were asked to stop kissing at a restaurant. Ottawa queers organized a kiss-in at the restaurant, and a day later, the gay couple received an apology from the owner. Watch the guys talk about what happened, and read more about the 2007 Ottawa kiss-in (Video at the original site-Molly ).

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Molly Note:

The "kiss-in" has been arranged for Saturday, April 10 in front of the Huether Restaurant.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

In The Record one of the women described the kiss as "a peck" yet said it went on for 20 seconds. So 20 seconds is NOT "a peck" and I do not think it is appropriate for public viewing (by men and women or anyone). It is true the cafe owner over-reacted. It is also true that getting a facebook group together and staging a "kiss in" is also another over-reaction. Can we not devote time to _important_ things?